(2)Troy Smith's atrocious game (4/14, 34 yds, 1 INT, 0 TD), mirrored by Chris Leak's ultimate redemption. For the last four years, I've been up and down on Chris -- the last year, mostly down. But his legacy is secure.

(3) Hoops-Football titles back-to-back, making Florida the first team to hold both titles simultaneously in NCAA history.

(4)Urban Meyer winning a national title in Year 2, which can be attributed to a couple of things: His emphasis on speed, his instant-impact recruiting and his meticulous management of his program.

(5)Florida's offensive play-calling and balance -- the former which had been a problem all season long, the latter which had been the core of Urban Meyer's system.

I mean, it was such an ass-kicking that I think most fans -- whether you're a Florida fan, an Ohio State fan or simply a college football fan -- were left as shocked as possible. It was possible, though preciously rare, to predict that Florida would win (cough, cough), but impossible to predict that Florida would win in such a dominating way.

(Hell, even Kirk Herbstreit is giving Florida credit, which is saying something. It's easy to forgive him in victory, particularly knowing how frustrated and upset he must be over the way OSU lost this game. I'm especially impressed the way he rejects OSU's 51-day layoff as a factor, when that seems to be something everyone wants to attribute the result to.)

Here's my question: Can you remember such a substantial and consensus underdog delivering such a thorough ass-kicking in a championship game? The two most notable underdogs -- Texas last year and Ohio State in 2003 vs. Miami -- both barely squeaked by with upset wins.

I head off to bed way too wired, but also stunned at the level of domination by Florida in this game over Ohio State. National champs. Wow. I'm thrilled to know that I had faith it would happen, but I could have never allowed myself to imagine it would happen this way. Maybe more cogent thoughts during the day Tuesday. -- D.S.

I was surprised everyone was saying whoever won the Rose Bowl would be the consensus pre-season #1. The Gators are still young and have two studs coming back in Tebow & Harvin. Is the mainstream media really going to overlook Florida again?! And props to Dan for picking Florida. Great call!

Dan finally gives UCLA credit after shitting on them all season. This credit-give is after ranking two-loss Florida over UCLA until UCLA finally proved something to him with the win over Washington. Since then, Shanoff has experienced this karma mega surge, where UCLA goes down, the Heisman winner is rendered useless, Ginn goes down, and Florida plays out of their minds.

Don't just give props to dan since there have been a bunch of florida homers all season shouting their praises. I've said it since the first USC loss that we were a team of destiny and that things were falling in place for us. I didn't think they gators would dominate this much. I honestly thought we might win by ten points tops but this was one of the most lopsided asskickings I have seen in recent years. It is totally reminiscent of what the cornhuskers did to the gators in 95 except few actually expected us to do that.

How did Ginn get hurt anyhow? It is a shame since I would have liked to have seen him play more.

To all the gators fans is this one more sweet than the first one?

To all of my fellow gators enjoy a slap on the back and savor this moment because I just can't see how we can top being football champs and bball champs at the same time except if we were to repeat in bball or football. Does this win make us the most dominant sports program in America?

I picked it yesterday for Florida to win by 2 scores at little off but still a blow out. It was the most impressive win by a underdog since the PAtriots beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. That game was not a blow out but the final score was much closer then the actual game was.

Congrats Flordia proving yet again that the SEC championship game should carry an automatic BCS Championship Birth. Has SEC ever lost this game when they get an invite? has the SEC champion ever lost its BCS game?

Here's what I think is interesting: Boise State finised 5th in the AP and 6th in the coaches poll... but....

Boise State received 1 first-place vote from an AP voter!

I thought the AP was contractually obligated to vote for the winner of the BCS title game? I wanna know who that voter was, and give him/her a big Hi-Five for having the balls (or ovaries, or whatever) to give BSU's perfect season a nod.

The question is: with the Florida winning bball and football...will they start to become a team we all love to loathe. Sure they are to a degree, but I think with another bball title for example, they could reach a higher level of hate along the likes of Duke, Notre Dame, the Yankees, and my ultimate regional hatred...Penn State. Eventually all people despise a winner.

I think someone mentioned yesterday that UF was going to play like they had nothing to lose. That is exactly what happened they were loose and believed in the game plan that Meyer and the coaching staff put together for them. They did not panic after that opening salvo by Ted Ginn.

A lot will be said about tOSU's long layoff and Ginn getting hurt and while those are factors they are not the biggest ones. Sweatervest just got outcoached straight up. He made none of the adjustments that you would expect him to make. I do not know why he tried the option when UF was killing tOSU's line and disrupting every play. I know tOSU's O is dependent on the big play but they should have known that they were not going to get any opportunities and tried to work the middle of the field.

I am sure Troy Smith is going to take a pounding in the media for the next 3-4 days. He played like crap and I am sure he will tell you that. I think he goes from being a late first rounder to being a late 2nd to early 3rd. What happened last night does not take away the great career that T. Smith had at tOSU.

Chris Leak is finally redeemed. Living here in Nashville it was big news when he picked UF because everyone thought he would go to UT. He seems like a good kid with a great head on his shoulders and does not make any excuses. Of any top flight QB recruit Leak may have had one of the tumultous (sp?) tenures ever because of the coaching situations and the offenses that each ran.

Last thing Dan again congratulations on being a fan of the b-ball and football champions. It is always fun when your team wins it all. I think Gabe may be the UF good luck charm. Maybe you should make him a Cubs fan and then they will win their 1st World Series in 100 years.

I am not a UF fan, but I felt good for Leak. As I said yesterday, he had every reason to just flip off the UF fans and boosters for the grief he took. But he seems like a good kid and I hope he at least gets a chance in the NFL.

As for the Ginn injury excuse, I saw a lot of posts yesterday that OSU had 5 WRs who could start for UF. What happened to the other 4?

There is only one way to spin yesterday's game and that is FLORIDA was the BETTER team. Plain and simple. If it was a close game and Florida won you could have some doubts but due to the utter domination of Florida you have to say Florida was the Better team maybe just maybe Ohio State was slightly overrated.

Oh yeah and so much for all the People who said that Florida should not of been in that game.

As a huge Ohio State fan and SEC hater, I tip my hat to the Gators. They won in every phase of the game -- offense, defense, penalties, and turnovers, and at least got a push on special teams following the opening kickoff.

I am not going to be an apologist for tOSU, but I would have liked to see Ted Ginn play 4 quarters. At 21-14, we forced a 3 and out, I thought the Bucks had a chance then to tie the game and right the ship. The quick penalty, our own 3 and out, and it was game over. The Florida defense outplayed the Ohio State offense and for the first time in the sweater-vest era, we were completely outcoached.

This game just proves that despite all the hoopla, hype, arguments on speed, etc....the game of football comes down to the guys in the trenches. Florida got pressure on Smith, not with speed, but with brute strength. I didn't see the Florida DEs run around the OSU tackles at all...I only saw them pushing them back or out of the way. That's strength. For the OSU D...what the fuck was with their defensive gameplan?? Rushing 4? Rushing 3?! The only way to take Smith out of the game is to put up constant pressure. Florida knew this and did it.The only way to take Leak out of the game is to put constant pressure. Ohio State knew this...then dropped into 8 man zones 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Tressel should bitchslap Jim Heacock. Then he should bitchslap himself for not making adjustments after the first quarter.One last thing...this post is getting too long... I am surprised that Ohio State didn't just try to run up the gut (yes, obviously that 3rd and 4th and 1 got stopped). Pittman..on the few carries he was given..did pretty well. Again, I think Florida played off of instinct and whupped butt. Ohio State thought TOO much and tied themselves in knots.

You thought it was entertaining? It was a snoozer after the first quarter.

Is it me or did this whole bowl season just suck? Lots of blowouts. Only one awesome game (BSU/OU), a few average games, then a lot of sucktitude.

Florida isn't going to be overlooked next year...but cmon, Gator Nation has had a hard-on for Tebow all year (ridiculously shameful considering they had a good one in Leak), but Tebow hasn't really shown that much. Sure...he can run. Can he manage a game? Lead by example? etc. And don't the Gators lose their leaders and playmakers on defense?

Horatio - here is the info on your beloved SEC conference. The SEC conference champion has lost it's BCS game 3 times in 9 years. The SEC overall is 9-4 in BCS games. Those 4 losses being ALA to Mich in 1999, Tenn to Neb in 1999, Florida to Miami in 2000 (are you a Gator fan and conveniently forgot that one?), and Georgia to WVU two years ago. The rest of the conferences run down like this:Big Ten: 8-7Pac-10: 7-4Big East: 5-4Big 12: 5-7ACC: 1-8Others: 2-3

Dude has a cannon. There might be some high school highlights of his on youtube; you should check them out. Problem is, his accuracy is a little suspect I believe. But hell, that's what the offseason is for.

Until he actually throws a pass in a college football game, I won't believe it. I still don't understand how he gets all those rushing yards. Everyone and their dog knew he was running up the gut and OSU would only have 6 or 7 guys in the box. That was pathetic on OSU's part.

all I want to know is... who are all these people? The "Gator fans have been calling for Tebow over Leak all season" stuff is starting to sound like Musberger and Herbstriet talking about the "bloggers" calling for Lloyd Carr's head--where is this coming from?

First of all, tell your wife congratulations on Florida winning the National Championship (after all, she is the one with the ties to the school, right?). I graduated from Penn State and my wife from Maryland but I don't think I ever started slurping up to her team when they won the basketball championship a few years ago. If Northwestern is ever good in football again does this mean you won't root for them since you have pledged your loyalties to the Gators?

Secondly, OSU has no excuses. Fifty-one days off or not, Ted Ginn Jr. getting hurt or not, they got their asses handed to them. It didn't look like SEC speed to me (As all the SEC homers seem to want to say. If the SEC speed was so overwelming how come Penn State and Wisconsin didn't have any trouble with it against SEC teams?) but more that OSU's offensive line could not block UF's defensive front. The UF defensive line dominated the game, more with strength than speed. Also, why OSU never rushed more than 3-4 guys I'll never know. Meyer and his staff did a great job of play calling against that rather passive scheme.

You have to feel good for Chris Leak who has taken his share from UF fans over the last 4 years. Good for him.

Coach Sweatervest was really out-coached in this one. So much so that I still can't believe it. It sure didn't look like the same Florida team that needed two blocked kicks to beat South Carolina in the swamp. Meyer and his staff did a great job.

Lastly, how about a shout out to Ron Zook. According to Lee Corso last night, he recruited 22 of the 24 starters (including kickers) for Florida last night. You mention in your post about Meyer and his emphasis on recruiting (uh, don't all college coaches emphasize that?)as a reason for UF's win. However, most of the heavy lifting for this team was done by Zook. It shouldn't be forgotten by people who have an association with the program (oh yeah, and you as well Dan).

As I said at the beginning of the College Football season (back in the MQ)... Chris Leak was going to come up big this year. Now, at the time you picked Tim Tebow over Leak, but I think we might have both won this.

Urban gets credit because, though they were Zook's recruits, it was Urban that won the games with those players. Zooker couldn't.

Troy (Gainesville): You seriously haven't seen, over the course of the season, all the Gator fans clamoring for Tebow??? Commenters in this blog certainly did at times. The kid was even booed (and Tebow cheered) in games this year.

Personally, I think winning the championship this fast is the WORST thing Meyer could have done. Now that he's done it in year 2, all the Florida fans are going to want a championship every single season. If this had happened a year or two down the road, it would have given more patience to the Florida fans down the road when he's not winning a championship.

Congrats to you Dan, the heroin sheik, joe in dayton (must be an interesting dynamic there right about now...) and Troy from Gainsville, and any other Florida fans I may have missed. It wasn't a "squeak it out" type of win, it wasn't anything that happened on a freak play or a blown call, it was just 100% complete domination.

And, @ futurelegendvinceyoung:

Dude, don't encourage him to make his kid a Cubs' fan. No child deserves that.

My mistake, 22 out of 24 starters were recruited by Zook. Zook has always been known as a masterful recruiter (look at his incoming class at Illinois next year), coaching not so much. So props to Zook for giving Meyer a great class and props to Meyer for coaching the hell out of them (certainly better than Zook did).

I was all set to call out the OSU/Mich/Big Ten slurpers, but after an ass kicking like that I just don't have the heart. So I will respond to some of their points over the last few weeks.

1.) The sweater vest will NOT get out coached: the only way UF can win is by some lucky breaks because OSU has more talent.

Tressel CLEARLY got out coached and Florida was the more talented team. That was clear about midway through the first quarter. Surprising but clear.

2.) SEC is overrated.

I have said before how meaningless bowl games do not indicate strength of conference due to a variety of reasons, so no bringing up Wisco and Penn State. The only meaningful bowl game was the NC game, and clearly the Big 10 has been exposed. OSU played 1 meaningful game all year(Mich). Florida played several. Now maybe prople will understand how damn tough that conference is and why UF had trouble with South Carolina, even Kentucky to some degree, not to mention the rest of the SEC big boys. Also, some have brought up the fact that the SEC is 3-0 in BCS title games...and let's not forget how Auburn got screwed in 04(not saying they would have beat the juggernaut USC team, but they still got hosed out of a chance)

3.) OSU is equal in speed to UF

Are you kidding me? Outside of Ginn, UF had the CLEAR speed advantage. Harvin was the fastest player on the field and the UF defensive line got to Smith through power AND speed.

4.) Troy Smith will not crap the bed. It will be Chris Leak.

Smith was terrible, but not all his fault. OSU offensive line was overwhelmed. Leak played his best game of his career on the big stage. I was shocked, but very happy for him. It's what he came to UF to do.

Florida took advantage of the system this year and is CLEARLY the best team in the country. Don't give me Boise State, who got past an OU team(barely) that cold not hold UF's collective jock. But that doesn't mean I don't wish Boise did not have a chance to show their stuff. I, now more than ever, still call for a 16 team playoff so it can all be settled on the field.

A couple more tidbits. I watched evey single Gator game this year from start to finish. This stuff about the UF fans booing Leak is way out of proportion. It was the Kentucky game, and what was happening at the time was Urban Meyer was flip flopping Leak and Tebow in a way he had not done before. UF had a first and goal at the KY 4 yard line and Meyer left Leak in the game and the Gators had a couple bonehead plays. Then a drive later they had a first and 10 at the Kentucky 19 or so and in comes Tebow. A couple more bonehead plays, and the fans started getting restless. The boos were not aimed at Leak and were frustrations of Meyer's use of the 2 in unusual situations. Gator fans have much more class than to boo Leak, even though we will admit to some frustration in his play. The media ran wild with that and took it out of context...so a big "fuck you" to the media for that.

I don't know if Herbstreit finally came around on the SEC or not last night...after all, what could he say after that domination by UF? I don't think anybody should slurp the SEC...just give credit where it is due and try to overcome your biases, not let them cloud your judgment.

UF is stocked and a top 5 class is fully expected again for next year. They should be number one heading into the season, though I do not subscribe to the "it's theirs until someone knocks them off" theory because the turnaround is so great year to year. I am hoping some of their juniors(reggie nelson especially) take a cue from the hoops team and come back, but would not begrudge any of them if they left for the NFL. I think the next 2 years people are going to love or hate tebow and harvin, much like leinart and bush. because they are going to rule college football.

The reason that I think Gabe should become a Cubs fan is the power he has had on sports teams since his conception/birth. UF wins the B-Ball title before he was born and now UF has won the football title. I think if the Cubs have any shot of winning it all Dan needs to become a Cubs fan and Gabe will lead them to the title.

one more quick point: tip of the cap to zook for his recruiting. it's too bad he could not do as well as a game day coach, and that led to his downfall. i think we will see how good a recruiter meyer is in the next couple years. if tebow and harvin are any indication, uf is in good hands in both aspects. excellent hands.

They are saying that Ted Ginn's injury occurred during the celebration after the kick-off return. Do you think coaches will tell there kids to stop jumping on each other and throwing each other down to celebrate?

As a MWC fan, I almost threw up in my mouth with Urban Meyer was presented the award last night and the presenter said, "On behalf of the 11 conferences of the BCS...." What BS!!!! Everybody knows that there are only 6 conferences in the BCS and 5 "mid-majors".... ugh.

Who wouldn't want to see a BSU/Florida matchup...And thank god for both tOSU and Michigan losing...I'm not a huge college football fan but one thing I've learned from reading this blog is that those fans are unbearable. Wheres manninghamheisman these days?

No NDYanks Brady Quinn does not have to worry about losing his title as the most overrated player ever. Troy Smith did play the worst game ever but Brady's level of sucktitude in big games far outshines Smith's.

IM pretty sure nelson has already said he is going pro. I really think the zooker deserves at least a token of appreciation from UF. See if we still had a class act like lombardi as president I bet he would make foley give zook a ring. Of course machen did help us get meyer.

I was fully expecting the gators to win and I am still shocked at how easy it was.

Id really like to see boise state play florida in a plus one game but I would be weird with all that orange and blue.

My dad called me from the game last night and it was so loud I was getting feedback in my ear. He said in his 50 plus years of attending games he had never seen an opposing teams fans so dumbstruck. He said by the time we had that fantastic run before the half most of OSU's fans looked like deer in the headlights.

I can't wait for the celebration at the swamp on saturday. Looks like it will be a good time to get a celebratory tat. Maybe something special celebrating the "Gator slam" as the WWL proclaimed it.

We need to come up with a term for holding the two major sports titles simultaneously.

To all you gators how many of you are calling in sick with hangovers? I wish I didn't work in a kitchen because I know I will be worthless til at least my fourth or fifth shot.

Sure we seem obnoxious now but really unless they are your teams fans arent all fans obnoxious on some level. Give us a few days to gloat IM sure dan will be praising meyer as the second coming for a while but isn't that his right since our team won?

The first person to comment on this page mentioned that the game "...just proves media doesn't win championships.."

...well, for all those who bitch about the BCS, had there not been this game and OSU had say, won the Rose Bowl, they would have been unanimous champs...without having to go through the Gators. With the exception of the split championship year in '04, when these BCS Championship games are over, you do kinda end up feeling like the winner was, after all, the best.

I guess you didn't quite pick up on the sarcasm there Vince. Summing up a player/coach in one game is absurd. Although Smith looked absolutely terrible (bad INT and the fumble was bad - he scrambled around the DE and then completely forgot about him for some reason) it doesnt mean he isnt a solid QB.

What's the story with teams not figuring out Teebow is going to run up the middle 90% of the time when he gets into the game. You think they'd have been able to limit him to 3 yds per carry instead of like 7.

"except the 04 split championship?" i think you meant 03(04 bowl games). how about 01 when oregon and/or colorado should have been playing miami? how about 04 when auburn got hosed? come on...we still need a playoff.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.